My allmost new VIC-20

lordbubsy · Post by **lordbubsy** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 5:08 am

Hello everyone,

After my first VIC-20 worked fine, this forum inspired me to make some modifications on my VIC-20, which eventually lead to making a new one!

I planned on creating an NTSC VIC-20 in near mint condition (as in “used but has almost no signs of wear

toby405 · Post by **toby405** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:42 pm

This is amazing! I wish I could do that kind of work.

ldxstx · Post by **ldxstx** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:14 am

Wow, great! Really inspiring! Atm I wish I could do that too

Thanks for your post.

Greetz

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:24 am

Nice!

Witzo · Post by **Witzo** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:21 am

My jaw dropped on the keyboard when looking at your pics.
Suck skill and knowledge...

lordbubsy · Post by **lordbubsy** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:49 am

Thanks for those friendly responses!:)

Now I really regret that I drilled a lot of holes in my Commodore computer casings before I came up with this idea. Mostly for buttons, switches and LED’s.

Using the RESTORE-KEY as input and an RGB power LED as output leaves the work to be done at a minimum. However the original power LED has a more deep red glow than the new RGB LED. And when it‘s off, it look diffuse white.

When I push and hold the RESTORE-KEY, the arduino starts to count. Every 400 ms the color of the LED changes. Each color represents a different function. The first 400 ms, no actions are taken, so the RESTORE-KEY acts as usual.
The sequence is like this:
• RED = no action
• BLUE 100% = Final Expansion 3 RESET
• BLUE 50% = Normal RESET
• BLUE 10% = SD2IEC RESET
• YELLOW = Pause
• GREEN = KERNAL switch between JiffyDOS / CBM
• PURPLE = Cartridge off / on
• OFF = no action, sort of an escape if you change your mind.

When I turn on the VIC, I programmed the LED to cycle through the rainbow colors. That looks really cool.

There is a downside too, I discovered that the VIC-20 uses the RESTORE-KEY much more often than the C64. Luckily its mostly to reset a game or cartridge.

The Control Center is actually made from a stripped arduino. The simplest thing to begin with would probably be to control the reset line with the restore-key. It requires only an arduino, some wire and a soldering iron.

Muzz73 · Post by **Muzz73** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:58 pm

This is awesome! Thanks for posting these!

I still need to send you the VIC 20 name badge to make it complete. I'll send it soon.

lordbubsy · Post by **lordbubsy** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:10 pm

Muzz73 wrote:I still need to send you the VIC 20 name badge to make it complete. I'll send it soon.

I’d be very delighted, it would be the icing on the cake for my “American NTSC VIC-20

Muzz73 · Post by **Muzz73** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:14 pm

I have the first North American version and the second, world-wide version. Which would you prefer?

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 5:30 pm

A lot of love went into this hardware project -- nice!!

lordbubsy · Post by **lordbubsy** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:14 am

Muzz73 wrote:I have the first North American version and the second, world-wide version. Which would you prefer?

Tough question, but I think the fist one would fit best in (on) this case(ing). Do you agree?

rhurst wrote:A lot of love went into this hardware project -- nice!!

Oh yes, definitely! Despite I didn’t have a VIC-20 in the 80’s, I feel quite comfy with it.

FD22 · Post by **FD22** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:38 pm

How about using some longer flyleads (where necessary) and putting all your 'dead-bug' fixtures in the empty space on the control board - you'd then have all the mods on one board (isolated from each other, of course) which you could fix in place somewhere convenient inside the case.

lordbubsy · Post by **lordbubsy** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 6:21 am

FD22 wrote:How about using some longer flyleads (where necessary) and putting all your 'dead-bug' fixtures in the empty space on the control board - you'd then have all the mods on one board (isolated from each other, of course) which you could fix in place somewhere convenient inside the case.

My next hardware project will probably be a PAL VC-20 with the same mods. I “plan

akator · Post by **akator** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 3:38 pm

This restored modded VIC is stunning. Great work